In light of the reassessment-delayed until 2013 when new values will be fully implemented-and the County’s 21% 1 mill tax increase-to go into effect immediately and to be paid on the upcoming tax bill-it is worth noting that the median home sale price in Allegheny County rose 43% over the last eleven years from $84k in 2000 to $120k in 2011. The dollar volume of sales rose to $2.2 billion from $2 billion in 2000 but the total number of sales declined from over 18k in 2000 t0 14k in 2011. That’s according to the year end report of sales complied by RealStats.
The data also covers the adjacent four counties of Beaver, Butler, Washington, and Westmoreland which comprise but do not fully account for the Pittsburgh metro area. The median sales price for the five county area in 2011 was $125k. Washington County had the biggest percentage increase in median sales price (60%) while Beaver had the smallest (22%).
Using that $125k 2011 value as a proxy for the metro area, Pittsburgh would fall into the grouping with regions like Cincinnati ($126k), Spartanburg ($124k), Buffalo ($123k), Rochester ($123k), Las Vegas ($122.7k), and Wichita ($120.9k) based on the median sales price in the 3rd quarter of 2011 according to the National Association of Realtors. Since 2008 the median sales price in Las Vegas fell from where it stood at $220.5k; many of the other metros in that $130-120k range were there or close by in 2008.
